grammaticality - Is there any valid rule discouraging the use of a certain word to start a sentence?


Is there any rule you think is valid that discourages the use of a certain word to start a sentence?


Because I suspect the answer is no.


But it would be good to have a blanket answer to this kind of question.



Answer



Well, with certain words it's simply impossible to start a grammatical sentence: one such word that comes to mind is "ago". It always comes after other words (e.g. "one hour ago"), never at the beginning of a sentence or clause.


[Before someone points it out: note the use-mention distinction. A sentence like



'Ago' is a word you cannot start a sentence with.



starts with the word "'ago'" and not with the word "ago".]


But if your question "Is there any valid rule discouraging the use of a certain word to start a sentence?" (emphasis mine) implicitly restricts attention to words that can grammatically start sentences, then it's not clear what it would take for a rule that discourages something grammatical to be "valid". Certainly there exist people who disapprove of certain words starting sentences for their own idiosyncratic reasons, such as the "but" I started the previous sentence with. Are these "rules" valid? I wouldn't consider them valid, but I don't know what valid means to you. :-)


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